Cold
by BleedingDeath
Summary: It had all started with a sneeze.


It had all started with a sneeze.

"ACHOO!" She wiped her nose on her sleeve, and then slowly looked back up coming to realize just what, or rather who, she had sneezed on. "O-oh, Levi... I didn't see you there," Hanji apologized.

The Lance Corporal stared up at her with a deadpan face. The snot from her nose dripped down his face, and the room grew colder.

"Well... I should be going now, experiments to do!" She waved to him and went on her way.

Without so much as flinching he took a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and wiped off his face. She would pay for that.

It was odd. He hadn't seen Levi all day. Maybe it hadn't been all that unusual though, he had been working on paperwork most of the day and hadn't been out of his office much. Even still, when Levi was idling his time he was usually about cleaning or training, the latter of which he'd be outside for which would explain his lack of appearance. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something was up.

He stood from the desk, stretched, and headed for Levi's room. Once there, he knocked on the door.

No answer.

"Levi? Are you in there?" He knocked again. He could've been imagining things, but he thought he heard a rather quiet groan come from the other side of the door. He then tried the knob, it was unlocked. "I'm coming in, alright?" There was still no response back, but he entered anyway.

At first he didn't see anyone in the room. It looked empty in fact. After scanning the room his eyes rested upon the bed in which there was a human-sized lump.

"What are you still doing in bed? It's mid-afternoon," he stated feeling slightly confused. This wasn't like him.

There was a slight shuffle under the covers and they were pulled further over his head.

"Trying to pretend I'm not here?" He sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm not leaving until you say something."

There was another groan, more shuffling, and then he turned around and glared from the crack in the sheets. "Go the hell away Erwin."

"That's no way to speak to your Commander," he laughed. "Now stop hiding under there, I'm sure you have work to..." he trailed off as he pulled the covers off Levi's face.

His nose was red, hair disheveled, and looked rather grumpy.

"You're sick?" He really did look terrible.

"Yeah. No thanks to Hanji."

"What did she do?"

"She sneezed. On my face. A few days ago." His face was that of utter disgust.

"Ah, you caught her cold then."

A couple of rough sneezes from Levi confirmed this.

"You just stay here and rest, you could use a break anyway with how hard you've been working." He began to lean down to kiss his forehead, but stopped when he heard Levi speak.

"Don't get so close. I don't need you catching it too. Just go." He turned over and hid back under the covers again.

"I'll be back later to check on you." He ran his hand along Levi's arm.

A sneeze was the only response as he left the room.

Throughout the day he went back to check on him, only to find him snoring every time. He would let him rest though and continue on with his work.

The next day, in the afternoon, he once again checked on Levi, this time soup in hand, since he figured he hadn't eaten anything yesterday. When he entered his room this time, he was sitting up, rubbing tired eyes, not looking any better from the day before.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like shit. How do you think I'm feeling?" He glanced up at Erwin.

He smiled softly and took a seat next to him. "Never hurts to ask. Are you hungry?"

"No I—" He was cut off by a sneezing fit. "Ugh... this is disgusting," he groaned, laying back against the headboard.

"Eating something would help you feel better you know."

"I don't want to." He tipped his head back, crossing his arms, and closing his eyes.

Erwin sighed. Clearly there would be only one way to go about this. With his free hand, he pinched Levi's nose, gently, but enough to make him wince and repeat "ow" over and over again.

"Wha' the hell're you doin'?"

If looks could kill Erwin would have been dead, but he moved quick and shoved a spoonful of soup into his mouth while it was open. A sudden look of surprised came onto his face as he just stared at him, blinking back small stinging tears from the corners of his eyes. Erwin popped the spoon out of his mouth and said, "Swallow."

There was a look of rebellion in his eyes, but he did as he was told. "I'm not a child, I can feed myself."

"But you didn't and you said you didn't want any."

His eyes darted away. "Well... I changed my mind."

A knowing smile spread across his face. "You like this don't you? Me taking care of you." The way Levi avoided making eye contact was enough confirmation.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"… Are you going to feed me or what?"

He gave a soft chuckle. "Alright, alright." Despite Levi still refusing to make eye contact, perhaps trying to keep some of his dignity intact, he knew that he was enjoying himself.

"How come you didn't check on me yesterday?" He then added quickly, "You said you were going to after all."

"I did, but you were sleeping every time I came in."

"Oh." He ate another spoonful. Soon the bowl was empty and a sleepy yawn escaped from between Levi's lips.

"How can you be tired? You've been sleeping all day."

"I'm recovering from illness so shut up."

"Well, at any rate, I have to get back to work," he said leaning in to kiss his nose.

"Don't you dare. I'm covered in germs." He shooed his face away.

With an exasperated sigh he backed off. "I'll check on you later."

"You better," he mumbled, burying his face into the pillow.

He opened the door as quietly as he could in case Levi was sleeping, he didn't want to disturb him. It was late at night, one or two in the morning, but he had just finished the stack of papers and decided to make sure his patient was alright and behaving himself. He crept over to the bed. In the dim moonlight coming in through the window he saw Levi was sleeping, curled into the sheets, shivering slightly from a draft coming from the window. That was no good. He climbed into the bed carefully, getting under the covers.

"Who're... Erwin?" Levi questioned, awakened by the body joining him. "Why're you in my bed?" He sounded like he was half asleep.

"You we're shivering. I couldn't just leave you here by yourself."

"Why were you even in my room? We're you being a perv."

"I just finished all that paperwork and I wanted to check on you before I went to bed."

"Well then shuddup I'm tired and you woke me up."

"Goodnight Levi," he whispered softly, leaning down, to once again try to kiss his nose.

"Germs." Levi looked up at him.

"Don't care," Erwin replied, kissing his nose.

Levi looked like he wanted to protest, but then shortly gave up the idea, and snuggled against Erwin's chest. The warmth radiating from his body was welcomed.

The next morning Erwin woke up to see Levi up and about getting dressed.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah."

There was something about his expression though, something of a serious determination that made the Commander ask his final question. "Where are you going?"

As he tied his cravat around his neck, he gave a simple answer, "To kill Hanji."

And with that, he left.


End file.
